Frequently Asked Questions

“Smart” Meters are digital utility meters that send customers’ detailed usage information to the utility using radio-frequency (RF) transmitter systems, or over the power lines using Power Line Carrier "PLC smart meters", which do not emit wireless radiation.  Some meters (AMI mesh networks) also contain other capabilities, such as remote shut-off.  Wireless RF smart meters are part of a larger plan which includes the Smart Grid, the 5G rollout and the Internet of Things (IoT).  

Electric smart meters are replacing older analog style meters, while gas “smart” meters are generally small devices attached to existing gas meters.  Wireless water meters are also being installed in many regions.

“Smart” meter planning in the United States is related to the Energy Act of 2005 and administered by the US Dept of Energy, the FCC, and each state’s public utilities commission (PUC) and/or utility company. However, in that Act, there was NO mandate to force all customers to accept installation of “smart” meters – only that they would be offered. 

Utilities use a dizzying list of acronyms and technical terms to describe their ‘smart’ meter and "smart" grid systems.  Many insist that their meters aren’t the ‘smart’ meters that have been causing all the problems.  ALL of the meter types below are ‘smart’ and are associated with health, privacy and safety problems:

AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) enables two-way wireless communication between the utility and the meter.  Enables remote shut off & control of appliances.

AMR (Automatic Meter Reading- or ERT) meters are  typically wireless one-way meters that report usage to utility personnel  in a vehicle with a handheld device. Includes ‘bubble up’ meters that  transmit all the time, and ‘wake up’ systems that transmit when they  receive a signal.

PLC (Power Line Communication) uses the power lines  to transmit utility usage data.  Though this is a wired system, ‘dirty  electricity’ used to send the signal also radiates into living spaces  from unshielded wiring.

“Radio Off” Digital Meters can still act as a  surveillance device.  They also use switch mode power supplies, linked  to dirty electricity and health problems.

Bottom line: A ‘smart’ meter is any utility meter that  contains electronic components.  Do not accept anything less than a  ‘purely electro-mechanical analog meter with no electronic components.’  

Traditional mechanical anaalog meters have been used for decades.  They are the safest electrical meters available, and they last for many, many years.

Non-transmitting analog (mechanical) electric meters typically have 5 small clock-like dials and a glass casing which allows you to see the spinning dial inside. “Smart” meters have digital displays and plastic casings which you cannot see into.  There are a very few mechanical analog meters which have a wireless-transmitting capability, which can only be identified by measuring their RF emissions.

Mechanical Analog electric meters measure electricity usage using a metal disc inside that spins when you are drawing current from the utility’s service wires. The spinning of the disc moves the dials that indicate the total electricity consumed in kilowatt-hours. A utility worker must visit, read, and record the current readings for you to be billed. You can also read the meter yourself to determine how much electricity you have consumed, and confirm that utility charges are accurate.  Mechanical Analog meters only measure usage as it occurs, and displays to total amount used.  They have no way of recording what time of day the electricity was used, nor do they continually pulse radiation capable of detecting wireless devises, "smart" appliances (which also emit radiation).  

Wireless RF “smart” meters can emit radio-frequency microwave radiation (called “RF”), similar to that used by cell phones and wifi routers.  They also emit 900MHz, which is similar to what cordless telephones use.  The RF transmissions from “smart” meters pulse radiation day and night, which is not always directly related to household usage.  These RF frequencies are part of the range of frequencies recently placed in the category “possible human carcinogen” by the World Health Organization (May 2011).

Public health professionals and scientists have been concerned about human exposure to this type of low-level radiation for many decades. US and foreign militaries have studied RF since around the 1930s and have documented many of the negative effects.  You may have read about ways to reduce your exposure to the RF from your cell phone, "smart" printer, bluetooth, etc.. But a “smart” meter is an RF emitter that you have no control over. There is no “off” switch, nor can you move it to a different location in your home. 

Unlike a cell-phone network, which has large antennas (cell towers) that capture and transmit data, with individual phones moving around and connecting to the closest antenna in order to utilize the network, a "mesh network" has no centralized antennas.  Every meter in the network can connect to every other one (within a certain distance - roughly a mile or two in the case of some smart meters that have been tested). Information moves around, often from property to property, and then is collected by centralized hub antennas usually mounted on utility poles called Data Collector Units (or DCU’s).  There can also be collector meters, which collect data from other meters, and these tend to have higher emissions. 

Why does my utility want to use a mesh network system?  It must have seemed like a great idea: little or no extra infrastructure—just install a powerful set of receivers and transmitters on each and every house you have an “easement” on and - Presto! - they have a massive “self-healing” connectivity network. Each RF "smart" meter transmits for incredible distances.  If it can’t talk to its neighbor, it leaps to the next RF "smart" meter along, and so on.

Didn’t it occur to our electric company that people would object to have what is essentially a cell phone antenna facility mounted on the side of their homes and businesses?  Or that community members might protest to the loss of privacy, and tremendous amounts of data being collected?  Perhaps this is why MLEC in middle Tennessee did not clearly, directly and openly inform its members and the communities it serves about its RF meter and mesh network plans.  

In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a regulatory body with no doctors or medical professionals on staff, has set the guidelines for public RF exposure at a very high level, based on biased and incomplete science dating back to the 1950s.  The RF emissions and spikes from “smart” meters are supposedly under these very liberal FCC guidelines, but many who study the effects of low-level RF on humans, animals, plants and the environment say that the guidelines are flawed.  Currently, the FCC guidelines are many, many times higher than many developed countries.  Many declare that the FCC is a captured agency.

For more information, watch the free documentary Take Back Your Power, at:  takebackyourpower.net

A Federal Court ruled in 2021 that the FCC safety limits for wireless radiation are "arbitrary and capricious”, and ordered the FCC to “address the impacts of RF radiation on children, the health implications of long-term exposure to  RF radiation…”.  So far the FCC has not done the testing.  The RF emissions spikes from “smart” meters are supposedly under these very liberal FCC guidelines, but if the guidelines are flawed, as many who study the effects of low-level RF on humans and animals think they are.  

Countless scientists and academics have written to government agencies in charge of the decision to deploy “smart” meters, to alert them as to the possible dangers in such a widespread public exposure to RF, and to urge commissions in charge of overseeing utilities to exercise more precaution.  

While the elected bodies of some towns, counties, cities, and states have taken notice of the dangers involved, many have not, choosing instead to swallow the assertions made by utilities of public safety and cost-saving. Often small government agencies are at the mercy (or in the pockets) of the utilities they oversee, which are large, well-financed corporations, and thus don’t heed these calls for caution.

The current attitude of governmental bodies in the United States is that if radiation doesn’t heat tissue, it is considered safe. Ionizing radiation (e.g. x-rays) can alter molecular structures and standards for this type of radiation have been established. Non-ionizing radiation (such as cell-phone and “smart”-meter radiation) has been considered safe by government agencies because it doesn’t heat at lower levels of exposure. But a growing number of scientists, researchers, and experts feel this is a flawed position. Clear biological effects have been observed at “non-thermal” levels–most notably DNA breaks, breaches of the blood-brain barrier, and increases in brain glucose metabolism.

In some cases this is true, and in some cases not true. The figures for RF exposure given by utilities are time-averaged numbers which hide the peak power of the “smart” meter, and disguise the fairly continuous nature of the pulses. “Smart” meters are unlike cell phones or wifi in their chaotic pattern of sharp spikes of RF.

Cell phones and wifi can be strong RF emitters, and people are becoming increasingly aware of the potential harm done by chronic exposure to RF radiation-emitting devices and are taking steps to change how they use them.  Growing public awareness of RF exposure has led people to choose a wired internet connection, to turn off their cell phones, wifi, bluetooth, printers, speakers, keyboards, etc. at night or when not in use, put their wifi on a timer, use a wired landline phone at home, forwarding their cell phone to the landline, and so on. 

Once installed, a “smart” meter is a device the customer cannot turn off or move, so your exposure to this source of RF is out of your control. The rate and intensity of the RF radiation is also not under your control, and some report that it is not under the utility’s control either. Recent information suggests that at significant proportion of the RF emitted by the “smart” meters is NOT transmitting your electrical usage data, but is part of the “mesh network” talking to itself, and includes a lot of redundant “chatter” between your meter and other meters. This is for the convenience of your utility, and its effects on you, the community and other living things is paramount to collateral damage.

The calculations used to arrive at the low RF exposure numbers that most utilities published are arrived at by time-averaging. “Smart” meters have an unusual, unpredictable pattern of RF emissions,  usually referred to as “pulses”—sudden high levels of RF followed by no  emissions. Each pulse is about 2 milliseconds (2/1000th of a second)  long.

By time averaging, they can bring down the total peak level that they claim the meters emit. This is bogus science. If  you time-average the strong millisecond pulses of a strobe light, they  “equal” a low-wattage light bulb continuously on; but no one would  legitimately make such a claim. Strobe lights have distinct neurological  effects in many people—headaches, dizziness, and for some- epileptic  seizures.

The peak power density of the pulses varies depending on a large number of factors:  distance from the meter, type of meter, environment, measuring device,  position, and perhaps even whether the pulse is sending data or just  “chirping” to its neighbors to maintain the mesh network. It is their  high variability, combined with the rash of complaints, that by itself  raises questions about possible effects on people’s neurological  systems.

Reports from people who’ve tracked “smart” meter pulses say the pulses are highly variable. unpredictable, random, very erratic. One EMF consultant reported that it is impossible to extract  meaningful conclusions about the fields created by the pulses.  Utility's own documents revealed recently that their meters pulse between 10,000 and 190,000 times per day.  The "median" was 10,000 pulses/day—that means half the meters emit MORE  than this. The average statistical figure would have likely been higher. The highest meter they measured emitted 190,000  pulses/day.

Many RF “smart” meters operates in the 902-928 MHz range, near the range of most cell phones, and in the radio-frequency microwave range (300 MHz to 3 GHz). The 2-millisecond spikes of RF (radio-frequency) they emit are randomly assigned to a pattern of alternating frequencies—the pulses keep shifting which frequency they are using. At least 90% of the pulses are not your data, but the “mesh network” talking to itself—also known as network “chatter.”

The spiked pulses are like a strobe light, which also emits spiked pulses, about 1/2 millisecond each. The “smart” meter pulses can go off at a rate of 2 to 20 per second. Strobe lights are known to have neurological effects, and are not allowed to be sold if they strobe at a rate above 10 pulses per second. Some people cannot be around strobe lights, they set off visually triggered seizures. The “smart” meter RF emissions constitute an all-new, bizarre pattern, unlike the pattern of emissions from your cell phone or any other RF-emitting device. And to date there have been no studies published on the effects of ‘smart’ meter radiation on animals, plants or humans.  However, some research indicates that pulsed radiation induces a greater biological effect than constant radiation.  Based on countless firsthand reports it is clear that some people are vulnerable to serious ill effects.

Most electric “smart” meters are in the 800-1000 MHz (megahertz) range  of the radio-frequency microwave band. Gas meters can be in the 400-500  MHz range, and in-home appliance networks (HAN) (including the 2nd radio  in the ‘smart’ meter) are in the 2.4-2.5 GHz (gigahertz) range. The Cornet ED88T Plus measures 100 MHz – 8 GHz.

This could be due to the power and frequency of the pulses put out by the RF "smart" meters.  Cell phones don't typically pulse so erratically, which can be verified by using an RF detector.  There is much research studying the effects of pulsing radiation and the negative effects.  

As we discussed above in questions about the power of the pulses and how often they happen, it might be possible that it is the very  bizarre and erratic nature of the emissions that are making people ill.  We are not medical experts or scientists, and so don’t make claims about  the reasons for your distress.

Yes, one can purchase an RF detecting meter for relatively low cost and learn how to read. There are several consumer devices on the market that measure the radiation that “smart” meters emit, as well as cell phones, wifi, cordless phones, bluetooth, etc.  An RF detector meter helps to "see the invisible", and clarifies that there is radiation coming from these devices.  It supports learning more about the wireless world, and helps to test and minimize unknown exposures.

EHS is short for Electro Hyper-Sensitivity. It is a poor choice of a name for a condition in which a person reacts to the existence of RF or other radiation exposure, so it's really more of a poisoning, or toxic overload.  Even at low level exposures, the appearance of symptoms can include:

    Mild to heavy headaches

    Brain fog

    Inability to concentrate

    Chronicle fatigue

    Eye itching or "dry eyes"

    Heart palpatations

    Aching, numbness or tingling in body areas that are in contact with a cell phone

    Skin problems and rashes

    Ringing ears ( tinnitus )

    Dizziness

    Nausea

    General weakness

    Muscle and joints pain

    Sleep disorder

    Respiratory problems

    Balance Problems

    Depression

    Memory problems (short term)

    Cardiac arrhythmia

    Muscle tension

In the first stage of the condition, fewer symptoms will appear, usually when the person is using mobile phones or other RF emitting  devices or when an RF "smart" meter is installed on one's home or business.  When the condition becomes more serious more symptoms will appear,  sooner and even when exposure to RF from environmental sources such as other people’s devices, cellular masts, WIFI routers, electric  appliances, electric infrastructure and other.  

On July 5, 2011, a federal district court judge in New Mexico ruled that the Telecommunications Act preempts the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), even if such an interpretation would “condemn a class of citizens to death because of their disability.” (Firstenberg v. City of Santa Fe, Case # 1:11-cv-00008-JAP-WDS)

Estimates are that between 3%-10% of the population experiences electro hyper-sensitivity.  Many do not recognize the cause of their problems.